Touch of a Woman: Lesbian Romance Collection

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Avery Johnson lived in Mexico, though this story doesn’t take place south of the border. This story begins in a small, almost unknown town in the north east part of the state of Missouri. Nestled between the acres of corn, wheat, farms and forest is Mexico. In a rather ancient two-bedroom farmhouse, Avery co-habitated with her cousin Sandy, and Sandy’s husband Joshua Cunningham. Avery was in her mid-twenties, and enjoyed living a free-spirited life. She only had a few friends, but she wasn’t close to any of them. Only her cousin has been her best friend ever since they lived together when Avery was six years old, and her mother died from kidney failure.

Avery worked as a waitress and part-time barkeep at Little Woody’s Bar and Restaurant. She found herself to be rather bored with her life, and more than not, very bored with her sometimes boyfriend Mark Andrews. This is why he was a “sometimes” boyfriend: she had been with him for about a year, and there were times that she just didn’t understand why. When she took the time to think about it long enough, she realized more and more that he literally didn’t do anything for her. He didn’t challenge her mind. He didn’t encourage, or support her to be a better person. He just didn’t stimulate her at all. And yet all in all, she continued to hang out with him --- that is how bored she felt.

The short blonde finished wiping down the counter top for the upteenth time in the past hour as another regular walked away with his drink in hand. Leaning her forearms against the bar, she wondered if she would ever get out of this one horse town and do something exciting, meet someone stimulating, or just do something with her life. Mark strolled up to the bar, bringing her out of her reverie as plopped down onto the stool in front of her, and said, “Hey, let me have a Bud.”

She rolled her eyes at him as she begrudgingly got him the requested beverage.

“Hey, what do think about driving up to Hannibal this weekend?” He nonchalantly asked.

Looking at him with skeptical wide green eyes, she was about to question if he was really talking to her. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, why not. We’ll get on the riverboat and see some of the sights. You always say you’re tired of this place. So I figured we should go.”

With a squint in her gaze, and folded arms across her chest, she asked, “And what is really your agenda for wanting to be in Hannibal this weekend?”

“What?” he asked as he tried to feign innocence.

“Oh, don’t give me that, ‘what?’ crap. You never want to go anywhere except to the bar. So, out with it.”

He stroked the bottleneck with his thumb, while averting her gaze. Clearing his throat, he said, “Tommy, at the shop, was talking about the riverboat gambling and how great it was, and that the last time he went, he came home with triple than what he left with. He said this weekend there was going to be a big poker game and the stakes were high.”

“And you believe Tommy even when you’ve known him to be a compulsive liar for the past five years?” she questioned somewhat harshly.

“Look, I’m willing to take that chance. Tommy’s a good friend, and if he said it’s great out there, then I want to take a shot at it.” He finally looked into her eyes, and putting on his best soft and sappy look, he asked, “Don’t you wanna go with me?” He reached out his rough and dirty car greased hand to grab hers. “We can have a really good time. Plus, when was the last time we ever did anything new and different?”

An amber eyebrow rose up her forehead. She knew Mark long enough to know that even though he asked her, this trip wasn’t going to be memorable and fun unless she made it that way. With an audible sigh, she conceded to his request.

Friday early evening rolled around, and Mark and Avery arrived at the bed and breakfast that she booked for them. Before Avery had the chance to settle into the room, Mark was itching to get on with the gambling.

“Come on Avery, we don’t need to spend time unpacking anything. We’re only going to be here for the weekend. Why are you settling in like you’re going to be here for a couple of weeks?”

She spun around with angry sea green eyes, and stated clearly, “Look, I put up with you talking about nothing but gambling the whole way here. This is my first time being somewhere new and different, and I want to enjoy it as much as possible. Now if that means doing things alone while you’re busy with your stupid poker game, then so be it.” She turned her back on him without a further word.

“Fine,” he yelled. Grabbing his room key, he slammed the door as he stomped out.

Avery sighed and shook her head. She knew he was being an asshole as usual, so she was glad when he took off. She had come to learn some time ago that it was better for them to part ways when either one of them was angry because by not doing so only made things worse.

Dakoda Lanning spent her summers in Hannibal, MO working as a bartender on the Tom Sawyer riverboat tour. When she was not in Hannibal, she occupied her time at the University of Missouri in Columbia as professor of Art History. Being a local to Columbia, Dakoda was very knowledgeable of all the beauty that her home state had to offer. Never one for being idle, she enjoyed busying herself all year around. So working two jobs was definitely not stressful for her. The bartending job made for great temporary and short-term work whenever she wanted it; and it made it possible for her to do it wherever she wanted.

Dakoda stepped onto the beautiful, large red and white riverboat. She had fifteen minutes before she had to be ready behind the bar, as the boat was about to take off for the next tour. With a smirk and a nod, she gave her bartending co-worker and friend, Joe, a low-five smack on the hand as she passed him in the hallway while heading towards her locker. She grabbed her black vest from the hanger, threw it on, and then proceeded to wrap the bow tie around her neck as she peered into the small mirror on the inside of her locker door. With everything in place, and her jet black shoulder length hair pulled back into a ponytail, she shut the locker door and headed to the main room.

Avery thought about taking a leisurely walk around town, and perhaps entertain the idea of some window shopping. She knew it was going to be quite some time before she saw him again. Even though he would often become such a jerk, she did convince herself time and again that he was at least a decent friend when he wanted to be and it was nice to have someone to go out with on occasion. Glancing at herself momentarily in the mirror, she said, “You are here to have a good time, and meet new people, so go do it.” She slightly chuckled at herself, and just shook off all thoughts of what happened beforehand.

Avery decided to take a quick shower to freshen up. She had taken out a sheer sleeveless olive blouse, and a burnt sienna skirt; and then proceeded to towel dry her shaggy strawberry blonde shoulder length hair. Low black heels, a silver necklace with Celtic knot pendant, and an intricately knotted silver band on her left wrist completed her ensemble. She looked at herself with a pleasing eye in the full-length mirror. Her black satin bra was showing beautifully and subtly through the blouse. The whole package made Avery feel rather sexy. Grabbing her small black leather purse, she left the room, and on her way to new adventures.

Some of the streets in Hannibal were still cobblestone, and it made Avery smile when her heels clicked on them. The street lanterns were beginning to glow as the sun made its slow decent in the western sky. There were dozens and dozens of tourists walking around, going in and out of all the shops. There were families with children laughing and eating ice cream, sitting on the various benches that lined the sidewalks. A pleasant and refreshing summer evening breeze gently blew across Avery’s exposed arms and legs. She smiled at how quaint and beautifully historic the town appeared. Visiting a few of the shops, she lingered in one particular antique shop, and enjoyed a lovely little chat with the gentleman sitting in a rocker behind the counter.

It wasn’t long before Avery got hungry, and began looking for an interesting place to eat. A short distance ahead, she saw an elderly couple selling hot roasted nuts from a little vending cart. She stopped and asked where a good place to eat would be within walking distance.

The couple both smiled, and the gentleman heartily pointed behind the buildings just over Avery’s shoulder. “Dinner on the riverboat is mighty nice around these parts, miss,” he said with a deep and soft voice.

“They have live music, and ya get ta ride down the Mississippi for a ways,” added the woman with a shimmering smile.

“Thank you very much,” Avery answered. “I think that sounds wonderful.”

“Just keep walking down yonder, and turn right at what looks like the next intersection. You’ll see the dock right there.”

“Thanks again. Have a good evening,” she addressed them, as she walked away.

Avery purchased a ticket for the dinner tour in the little shop located right at the dock. The posted sign in front of the shop indicated to all passersby that the riverboat tours began with the ticket purchase, and it also displayed the scheduled times for the tours.

The young blonde felt a sense of exhilaration, as if this night was going to be filled with excitement and adventure, as she stepped onto the outside deck of the massive boat. She went ahead and followed the other passengers who were filing into the main dining room area.

The riverboat was exquisitely refurbished. Everything from the woodwork on the railings to the detail of the lighting fixtures and the painted borders along the walls was worked on and restored perfectly.

There was a large crowd now that gathered into the dining room area. It appeared the boat was going to be full for this tour. Since Avery was on board by herself, the cruise Director had kindly asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a table. Grateful she wouldn’t be eating dinner alone; she gladly took a seat at a table with three women who were celebrating a birthday. She was happy to listen to them tell stories of all the crazy things they’ve done together over the years.

During the course of the dinner, Avery couldn’t help but notice a particularly intriguing and radiant individual tending the bar. Every once in a while she would glance over at this tall bartender who was working gracefully with each drink order.

At first glance, it just didn’t strike the young blonde that the bartender was female until she saw the beautiful smile and the sparkling eyes. She also was beginning to notice that she continued to glance towards the statuesque beauty more and more often. By the time dessert arrived, Avery had a desire to meet this striking stranger. She couldn’t help but find the woman to be so attractive, and yet Avery wasn’t sure what she was feeling. She wasn’t clueless to the whole gay scene, and she did have her share of a couple of women who have asked her out; but never before has she experienced a warm fuzziness inside of her. As she continued her now open gaze, there was no other word she could form in her mind for this stranger except handsome. Yes, this woman...this female was extremely handsome with her high cheekbones, chiseled features, and Grecian nose. She was definitely not feminine looking yet had enough femininity in her features to make it clear she was a woman. Avery knew she had an attraction to women, especially after the experience in her first year at college when she experimented with her roommate’s best friend. She fingered her pendant as she thought about that experience from a couple of years ago, and began to wonder if the reason she wasn’t able to find the “right guy” is because she was really wanting a woman.

One of the women at the table leaned over towards the young blonde, and said, “She sure is something to look at, huh?”

The words brought Avery out of her thoughts of the past. Looking a little puzzled at the older woman, she began to smile when she saw the woman giving her a knowing smile in return. “Yes, she is very striking.”

“Why don’t you go on up and order a drink, and start chatting with her?” The woman asked.

Avery smiled with some embarrassment. “Oh, I don’t think I’ve got the guts for that.”

“Well, you should give it a try. You can’t always wait around for someone else to take the first step.” The older woman casually stated with a wink.